The Latest Millennial Trend Brands Are Jumping On: The Hipster Hunter

Lumbersexual, spornosexual, urban woodsman. It seems that every few months there’s a new buzzword that groups millennials into some sort of lifestyle, prime for marketing to. The latest: the hipster hunter.

"There's a shift within the pool of people who hunt—it's becoming a lifestyle thing,” Rob Southwick, the president of Southwick Associates, a research firm that studies the economic impact of hunting and fishing for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told Adweek. “Younger people are buying into it, too, so they want to wear hunting apparel to identify with it.”

According to the publication, a “hipster hunter” is an urban dweller who is also interested in killing his or her own food as a part of the locavore/farm-to-table movement. In 2015, Sporting Classics Daily categorized the group as “participants in a larger conversation about the world and how to live responsibly in it.” A significant component of that conversation included access to steroid and additive free meat.

But, as the fashion industry can find an opportunity at every turn, brands have begun to market to this niche. Due to growing demand, Under Armour launched a line of women’s-focused hunting gear. That team counts their fabrics and innovation as selling points. Some companies have decided to sit it out, though. According to Jason Hairston, founder of five year old hunting apparel company Kuiu, North Face and Patagonia are amongst this group. Hairston says the pair are “too concerned with what their customers would think if they put their fabrics in camouflage. Fortunately for us, we filled that gap."